Jen Royle: Orioles open to trading Valencia ( Traded to KC for OF David Lough)

[olehippi]

It looks like Lough might be a younger version of McLouth and about $4.5M cheaper. And if he does prove to be "the man" in LF, he's not a FA until the 2020 season.

I think this is a solid move by Duquette.

[Guest]

I thought you were rethinking this deal. I see you didn't. That is okay. I just think

you are wrong on this. IMO

I just don't like our DH at all. Last year this was a problem and i hope Dan will fix that.

[Rene88]

See, yes to this - and also no.

Teams like Oakland do well year after year without "big pieces." The thing our offense doesn't need is "big pieces" we need guys that consistently get on base so the big pieces of our offense can get them in. Those guys aren't going to be huge names, but they might be guys like Lough.

If you want to say we need big pieces in the starting rotation, its hard to argue with that. One big pitcher makes this team look a whole lot stronger. I was on the fence about Garza before, but I could really go for that now.

Agree 100%, yes we need a big SP signing. Then we are in this thing!

[weams]

Best of all? Isn't arbitration eligible until 2016...and not a FA until 2020.

At which time, he will be 33. 9 months older than Nate McClouth is now.

[foxfield]

See, yes to this - and also no.

Teams like Oakland do well year after year without "big pieces." The thing our offense doesn't need is "big pieces" we need guys that consistently get on base so the big pieces of our offense can get them in. Those guys aren't going to be huge names, but they might be guys like Lough.

If you want to say we need big pieces in the starting rotation, its hard to argue with that. One big pitcher makes this team look a whole lot stronger. I was on the fence about Garza before, but I could really go for that now.

Agreed. This move increases the options for LF and at a minimum gives us a better defensive option in LF. But most importantly, we still have that pile of marbles and I think the chances of substantial addition to our rotation is now a real possibility.

[El Gordo]

We traded from a redundancy to get something we needed, a LH OF. Valencia was the best of Pearce/Valencia/Reimold but he was limited to the corners were we are set and DH. Good trade IMO. Now it's either Burnett or Morales IMO.

[Dark Helmet]

I like the move in getting Lough. He will outproduce Mclouth this year. Wish we could have kept Danny, but I make this move every time. I think DD has another move coming to get a DH. I know it will cost a pick, but I really think Kendrys Morales will be signed to DH.

[Frobby]

It looks like Lough might be a younger version of McLouth and about $4.5M cheaper. And if he does prove to be "the man" in LF, he's not a FA until the 2020 season.

I think this is a solid move by Duquette.

I do, too. But I do stress the word "might" in the first sentence above.

[LookitsPuck]

I think the writing was on the wall for Valencia while our Rule V pick. I'm guessing the O's really see something in Almanzar.

[centralpaosfan]

David Lough looks plenty buff already ?

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Me and the paps rocking the KC chive shirts! <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23flexon&src=hash">#flexon</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23chiveon&src=hash">#chiveon</a> <a href="http://t.co/J6V4AArjqu">pic.twitter.com/J6V4AArjqu</a></p>— David Lough (@DLOUGHKC) <a href="

">October 24, 2013</a></blockquote>

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haha....he's a chiver. I like this deal even more now.

[mdbdotcom]

After trading Wil Myers last year, the Royals wanted to help out another AL East team this year. Those are the #1 and #8 ROY vote getters last year. Wow!

[McLovin]

Awesome defender that is a hustler. Seems like a Buck player to me...

[Guest]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>David Lough is the rare left-handed hitter who hits lefties better than righties. Last year, he hit .292 against LH's and .284 vs. righties.</p>— Rich Dubroff (@RichDubroffCSN) <a href="

">December 18, 2013</a></blockquote>

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[DrinkinWithFermi]

In a vacuum, I would like this move- Lough is a much more complete player than Valencia and Valencia's skill set can be easily replaced. So from a purely utilitarian point of view, it's a win. But, and this is a huge "but," I really dislike the implications that can be inferred from the move itself, the way the roster shakes out in light of it, and the comments DD made prior to it and in its wake. I think the 25 man roster is pretty much set now in terms of position players, and I don't really like what I see. Follow me here.

DD has said that Lough replaces McLouth so there's your LF and since he doesn't appear to have significant platoon splits, I think it can safely be assumed that he's going to be the everyday LF more or less. Also, Reimold will almost certainly make the OD roster if he appears to be healthy(regardless of his production during ST) so Pearce will likely start the year in Norfolk. DD has raved about Urrutia and Peguero so both are likely to make the team out of the gate(I don't think DD will risk losing Peguero by trying to pass him through waivers). So now we have a 25 man roster that includes 6 OFs- Jones, Markakis, Lough, Reimold, Urrutia, and Peguero.

So where do they all fit in? Jones, Markakis, and Lough will obviously be starting in CF, RF, and LF respectively while the oft-discussed and much maligned Urrutia/Reimold DH platoon becomes a virtual lock- there simply aren't any better options left in free agency to address our hole at DH. Many of us(myself included) think that this was DD's plan all along and certainly enough evidence exists to make a convincing case for this theory. Peguero will serve as the official 4th OF and probably pinch run quite a bit as well, while Urrutia and Reimold will see some ABs as pinch hitters when he is not starting. So the lineup and bench probably shake out something like this:

LF Lough

RF Markakis

3B Machado

1B Davis

CF Jones

C Wieters

SS Hardy

DH Reimold/Urrutia

2B Flaherty/Weeks

Bench:

PH/Backup OF Urrutia/Reimold

Utility Flaherty/Weeks

Backup OF/ PR Peguero

Backup C Clevenger/Monell/Whoever

It's possible that Urrutia starts the year in Norfolk to make room for Almanzar(if we're really dead-set on carrying a guy with almost no value to a major league club- seriously, he has negative value defensively and struggles to hit AA pitching), in which case Reimold becomes the full-time DH. In either case, whether it's Reimold everyday or a Urrutia/Reimold platoon, it's hard to gauge exactly what kind of production to expect from the DH spot in the lineup. If Reimold isn't healthy or productive as the full-time DH, which is hardly out of the realm of possibilty, then I think the plan would be to switch over to a Urrutia-Pearce/Almanzar/Peguero platoon. If Urrutia also fails to produce, which is also hardly out of the realm of possibility, then DH becomes a major hole again just as it was for most of last year. If Lough also fails to produce, which like the other scenarios listed previously is also hardly out of the realm of possibility(his already mediocre OBP is completely AVG-driven and if that falls off, he's going to be dead weight from an offensive standpoint), then we'll find ourselves using words like "catastrophe" and "disaster" on a regular basis to describe the situation. And that's not even factoring in a possible failure as full-time second baseman on the part of Flaherty and/or Weeks and our question marks at the back of the rotation. If neither is up to the task and none of the rotation candidates step up, then 2014 could be very ugly indeed.

All in all, it's pretty disappointing to me that coming off its first 2 winning seasons since the Clinton administration, the organization is perfectly comfortable settling for question marks- and they are legion as of right now- rather than make real, concrete improvements. I'm not even in the "SPEND ALL THE MONEYZ" camp; I didn't want or expect the team to pursue Choo, Cano, Garza, etc. I guess I was just longing for something better than "maybe this guy will step up" or "maybe that guy will step up" at 3 out of 9 spots in the lineup and 2 out of 5 spots in the rotation.

As we saw last year with our flurry of frantic hole-patching via trade in June and July, that's not always a strategy that pays off for any team, much less a team with supposed playoff aspirations.

/end rant

[weams]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>David Lough is the rare left-handed hitter who hits lefties better than righties. Last year, he hit .292 against LH's and .284 vs. righties.</p>— Rich Dubroff (@RichDubroffCSN) <a href="

">December 18, 2013</a></blockquote>

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